December

Book Clubbing
My book club meet in early December to discuss Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, a futuristic, sci-fi, action/adventure novel centered around 80s pop culture and gaming. It was fun read, but none of us thought there was a lot of "there" there. Perhaps because the back-jacket claimed it would be important for the protagonist to confront the real-world to survive/win, but either that was not the author's intention or that idea was not successfully carried through. Book aside, our club added a new member (yay!), and we decided to become the Brunch & Tea book club and hold high revel and play whist. I am currently working through our next selection, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami which is highly strange and engaging. In other book news, I read Helene Wecker's wonderful historical-fantasy The Golem and the Jinni, and I have spent the last two weeks reading my way through Hanya Yanagihara 720-page, heartbreaking novel A Little Life before it's Monday due date. Less than a hundred pages left!

Weight
I passed my second weight check-point this month! (And then I went back over it, and then crossed it again.) Anyway, I have lost 50 lbs (or so, depending on the day) since January 2013 and over 30 lbs just this year. But I would still like to go down another size, so... I'm thinking of joining a gym, but I can't decide if January is the best or worst time to do so.

Fashionista
This means that I was able to fit into my topcoat that I bought way back as an undergrad. (Vintage! Not!) And yet this very old coat, which is missing a handful of buttons, has gotten me more compliments this month than probably any other item of clothing I've ever worn. Except for socks—as Elise said, my sock game is "on fleek" and has won a library award.

Cinema
Sam and I went and saw Krampus in early December, and it was scary, funny, and ridiculous. with an upsetting, non-fairy tale ending. *spoiler* Later in the month, after the Globes nominations, we went and saw Room. The situation is obviously horrible, but the film is very good and Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay's performances are exceptional. Then I went and saw Brooklyn (without Sam, sorry!), and it's so far my favorite film of the year. Saoirse Ronan gives a quietly beautiful performance of an Irish girl who learns to make her way in 50s Brooklyn only to have a chance to return to Ireland. I was crushing pretty hard on Emory Cohen, so I was of course #teamtony. Okay, maybe that's not a real thing, but I need everyone to see this film and tell me who they would choose: Tony or Jim and why.

So dreamy. ©20th Century Fox

In other cinema news, I have so far been subjected to the Anomalisa trailer thrice, and I can't even (the horror!). I also can't even wait for Carol, whose SLC opening keeps getting delayed (the agony!). I still have a lot of catching up to do with the nominees before the Golden Globe Awards ceremony next Sunday.

Happy Holidays from Billy Wilder et al.
Sam was very sweet and watched two of my favorite Christmas movies with me while we drank Jack Roses and ate Kouign-amanns (or the Breton plural: kouignoù-amann). We started with the terrible, wonderful Love Actually (which used to be my tradition with Ellen before she had her son). "Eight is a lot of legs, David." Then we watched The Apartment, Billy Wilder's fabulous dark romantic comedy about loners who fall in love between the office Christmas party and New Year's Eve. Before heading out for a NYE party myself, I watched Wilder's fabulous Hollywood noir Sunset Boulevard where William Holden attends two very different New Year's Eve parties in a beautiful tailcoat: "Wonderful shoulders. I love that line." Nobody wears tails to NYE parties anymore. I did not get a lot of other holiday movie viewing done (including my other favorite The Thin Man!), but I did catch Netflix's holiday special A Very Murray Christmas, which I found delightful and it totally got me in the holiday spirit. And finally, Elise, Justin, and I watched Meet Me in St. Louis (which is Justin's tradition) mostly for Judy singing the finest and most melancholy of all Christmas songs (Tori Amos's cover is also near and dear to my heart):

Art Angels
This is the first Grimes album I've bought, and I've found its electronic pop to be both very strange (including the cover art) as well as catchy and likable. iTunes writes that "Art Angels is a Catherine wheel of ferocious pop invention" and that seems to me the perfect description. While we're talking music here, I just want to say that my two favorite albums of the year were Florence + the Machine's How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful and Lana Del Rey's Honeymoon.

Snow Day
On Monday, Dec. 14th we had a massive winter storm which left Bountiful with 23" of snow! It was insane, and even though the U did not close (until late afternoon), I decided to take a personal snow day anyway, and I read my book and drank hot chocolate and napped and made macaroni and cheese casserole for dinner (comfort food!), and it was a mostly good time except that I did pull a back muscle attempting to shovel some snow.

T.V.
I finished two series in December: Fox's Scream Queens and Netflix's Jessica Jones (which turned out to be three episodes longer than I expected). Scream Queens was hilarious and macabre with cast members dying in every episode. But the best line of the whole season was Dean Munsch (original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis) in the finale: "Especially since the new Kappa seems to be aligned so clearly with mine and the rest of the student body's almost militant commitment to political correctness and acceptance of different and unusual points of view. As long as they're always left-leaning. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go disinvite Jerry Seinfeld from speaking at commencement. He told a joke about a woman once. Allegedly." Jessica Jones is a decidedly gritty superhero show—or perhaps anti-heroine show. The season's arc was concerned with defeating Kilgrave (David Tennant) who is no ordinary costumed supervillain twirling his mustache, but a real monster who is misogyny personified, "a one-man system of oppression, sexual violence, and domestic abuse." I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to re-watch Tennant's Doctor Who episodes again—what if his companions are really hostages?

Party Central
I started the holiday parties with my college friend set, who are all married except for Ashley and me, and of the four married couples, three have one or more children. So it was all a little crazy, but we had a lovely dinner, and the gingerbread men cookies that I made seemed to be a big hit, if I may say so myself. Then there was a martini cocktail party which was expected to be a raging hootenanny but turned out to be a fairly small gathering. I dressed up in my suit (which fits again!) and had six or seven martinis (small ones). And we all danced to jazz music and had a mahvelous time. There were family parties in which I most certainly did not hide from my family members in the closet of my childhood bedroom with half a bottle of wine! And I ended the year at Quinci's NYE party which was low-key and fun and in which Quentin Tarantino movies played in the background.

Hamilton
Let me be the latest person to fanboy over this musical sensation by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I checked out the Broadway cast recording from the library, and it is most excellent. It's Alexander Hamilton's life story, the cast is mostly people of color, and many of the songs are rap/hip-hop (though there are some traditional Broadway melodies as well). You can read this Atlantic piece about the music, and this Telegraph piece which concludes: "Like most good ideas," Kail says, dryly, "it doesn’t make sense until somebody puts in front of you and you say, 'Oh, of course.'" So go find it and listen to it. It makes me cry and want to read more U.S. history and be a better American. How corny am I?

Bonus: Christmas
Another Christmas has come and gone and I got three pairs of socks! and also many much books. So my Christmas was merry and hope yours was too.

Tensgiving

November in Review

1. Who Needs a Movie?
Prior to November, I had only seen nine films in the theater (not counting Brewvies Film Buff Night), and five of those were late 2014 movies that didn't come to SLC til Jan/Feb. So the four 2015 releases I had seen were Mad Max: Fury Road, Inside Out, Jurassic World, and Crimson Peak. But then I saw three more new films this month: The Martian, Suffragette, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2. The Martian was excellent: compelling, thrilling, humorous, and surprisingly emotional. It was more lucid than Interstellar and less claustrophobic than Gravity. Suffragette was fairly good. Carrie Mulligan was wonderful as always, and I thought it was one of Helena Bonham Carter's better performances of late—not being a Tim Burton or Harry Potter film. Queen Meryl as Emmeline Pankhurst was in the movie for all of two minutes, which was a little disappointing. She's on the poster, but she's not even the one who dies! *spoiler alert* And we were all a little shocked as the credits rolled that women didn't get the vote in Switzerland until 1971! Finally, Mockingjay 2 was better than Part 1, and while J.Law was first-rate as always, I didn't buy her romance with either Gale or Peeta, which reminds me of this parody: "because all my life I was never really into either."

Also, out the now-twelve films I've seen this year, eight of them have been with Sam. Thanks for being my movie buddy!

2. Winter is Coming
Remember, remember the 5th of November, because that is when the snow started flurrying. This November has been pretty cold with a handful of snowstorms throughout the month, though none of the snow has stuck around for long. Still, I hope this means a White Christmas and a healthy snowpack. (Also, I need to read A Dance with Dragons before the next season of Game of Thrones [and the possible spring release of The Winds of Winter... Ha!].)

3. Midwinter Graces
Six years ago, Tori Amos released a holiday album—and reader, I did not buy it. I was disappointed with her previous album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin which was released only months prior; I was not feeling "Snow Angel," the free iTunes download; and while my two favorite Christmas songs have and always will be Tori's versions of "Little Drummer Boy" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," this was an album of original compositions. Also, the cover art is terrible (and terrifying). But this year I did buy the album on iTunes, partly because it was on sale, and I have to say that I am rather enjoying it. While these are original songs, snatches of familiar carols wind their ways through the new tunes. "Snow Angel" continues to not be my favorite, but I really enjoy "Star of Wonder," "Holly, Ivy and Rose," and "Winter's Carol" (which was totally repackaged for The Light Princess) among others. Midwinter Graces is an album of holiday mysticism with as many mentions of the Holly King as the baby Jesus; also each track corresponds to one of the four classical elements (though I could not tell you which goes with which without looking it up).

4. Treat Yo Self
There was a Friday that was quite disheartening, and I was not ready to go home after work, and I just thought if only there was a café I could go to—and it came to me in a flash, Gourmandise! which is a French-inspired bakery and café downtown. I had a glass of wine, a slice of mushroom quiche, and macarons while I read my book for an hour. It was restorative and humanizing.

5. i iz sick
I got a cold this month (I get about 1.5 colds per year), and while the symptoms were fairly mild, it lasted much longer than normal. (Perhaps that's what I get for using store-brand Cold-Eeze.) However, coupled with the cold weather, it was an excellent time for drinking hot toddies. I start with a hot honey lemon water base, and then I add a generous "tot" of brandy, which, as Alexandra Fuller's father knows, is totally medicinal. I sometimes add spices, but after once mistaking paprika for cinnamon, I have let well enough alone.

6. 25
Here are a few thoughts about Adele's new album. I do think that "Hello," which we have all heard a million times, is the stand-out song which is why it's the first single and the opening track. "When We Were Young" is also a good second single. My other favorites include "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)," "Water Under the Bridge," and "River Lea" all three of which are pretty up-tempo and catchy. Most of the other songs I could take or leave, and I don't think any of the tracks are as good as "Rolling in the Deep" or "Someone Like You," so over-all I give the album a medium. (Also, how pissed do you think Taylor is that Adele waited until she was on the cover of GQ's November issue "T.S. Rules the World" to be like "Hello, it's me!"?)

7. All the Pies
I attended three Thanksgiving dinners. I went to my aunt & uncle's for Thursday, and then I had two Friendsgivings over the weekend. And I made four pies: pecan, two pumpkin, and an apple. I also entertained the notion of making a tarte Tatin, but sanity carried the day. Pies are not as easy as ... pie, they are hard work, and between jobs, traveling, a holiday concert, and continuous pie-making/dish-washing, it was not exactly a relaxing holiday. But it was good to see family and friends, give thanks, and eat butter.

8. Giving Thanks for TV
Some of my favorite TV episodes are set at Thanksgiving, though—due to busyness and pie-making—I sadly did not get to all of them. "A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving" is essential Gilmore Girls viewing. I love both of The West Wing's offerings: "Shibboleth" and "The Indians in the Lobby." I started watching the Friends' T-Day episodes from the beginning, but I didn't get to my two favorites: "The One with Brad Pitt the Rumor" and "The One Where Ross Got High." I also did not get around to "Pangs" from Buffy or any of HIMYM's "Slapsgivings." What are your favorite Thanksgiving-themed TV episodes?

9. Books
I finished many much more books this month, including my book-club book, Ready Player One, which is an enjoyable futuristic, 80s-themed adventure novel. It also gave me anxiety dreams whenever I read it before bed. I read David Mitchell's short haunted-house novel, Slade House, over the break, which was inventive and disturbing. I've almost finished National Book Award winner Challenger Deep, which was actually quite difficult to get into, but is a fascinating YA novel about mental illness. I finished the graphic adaptation of Swann's Way, which was reasonably easy to read and follow, though I can't say I loved the story. However, I still plan to read the novel (eventually...), and I think this will have been a good introduction. I also finished Shadow of Night, the second novel in what I will continue to call the Twilight series for the adult-set. Set in 1590s Europe, it was an enjoyable historical fantasy.

10.  That Moveable Feast
I have set aside my first $500 for Paris. I'm coming back for you! Though I've really fallen behind practicing my French on my Duolingo... I don't really have anything to say about Paris attacks except that it's heartbreaking and that, in all the reaction, Berry's essay "Thoughts in the Presence of Fear" continues to be relevant fourteen years later.

Now, excuse me while I go eat leftover pie and watch Dan in Real Life. And may everyone have a very merry December.

October: Take Ten

1. Vampire Diaries
In early October season six of Vampire Diaries dropped on Netflix, and I binged it hardcore--watching all 22 episodes over the course of eight days. and it was glorious. It is for sure an over-the-top, CW teen soap, and I love it. I exchanged hundreds of texts with fellow Diaries enthusiast Sam as I watched the season following Bonnie who was trapped in a pocket universe, Elena who lost all her memories, Caroline who switched off her humanity, and the season's Big Bad, Kai, who ruined EVERYTHING! and much more. I can't wait to binge watch the current season next year.

2. Scary Movie Nights
It's decorative gourd season, and what is more festive than watching some terrifying flicks? When I was a child I hated horror films which didn't change until college. But I was somehow present when my roommates watched The Grudge, and it wasn't all that scary. Then Slarue and I watched 28 Days Later and The Shining which were for sure scary, but in a fun way, and now I'm a fan. So this year Sam and I got together every week to get our fright on. Here's a list of what we watched:
The Haunting (the original thank you very much)
The Watcher in the Woods (Disney was very strange in the 80s)
The Others
The Exorcist (this is the one I was most reluctant to see--possession! gah!--but Sam was insistent. in the end it was pretty interesting and not as scary as I thought it would be)
The Orphanage (still super scary the third or fourth time around and it reduced Sam to a quivering puddle)
The Amityville Horror
The Conjuring
Sam and I also went to see Crimson Peak which turned out to be not so scary. though very beautiful but also a bit meh. and Jessica Chastain was giving me some serious Eva Green vibes.

3. Book Club
My book club met in order to discuss Henry James's ghost novella The Turn of the Screw. (We were also supposed to compare and contrast it with James's friend Edith Wharton's ghost story All Souls', but nobody else read it.) The Turn of the Screw seems to be popular (at least in academia) because it is short, lends itself to close reading, has a (potentially) unreliable narrator, and is a useful example of James's second period. Following Edmund Wilson's seminal essay "The Ambiguity of Henry James" we were divided into apparitionists (Devin) and non-apparitionists (Elyse and I). We then watched the excellent film adaptation The Innocents (also very scary), and I started to rethink my non-apparitionist stance while it firmly cemented Elyse's viewpoint.

4. Fall Baking (i.e. Pumpkin Everything)
Two of my favorite things to make in October is this Pumpkin Roll and these Pumpkin Cookies. I served the roll at book club and it was a big success esp. with Alex. The cookies were also a success when I brought them to work where several coworkers demanded the recipe. Because it uses melted butter instead of oil and no egg, the cookies have dense, chewy texture instead of the cakey/muffin-y texture common to pumpkin cookies. 

5. The Light Princess
Tori Amos co-wrote a musical based on George MacDonald's fairy tale, and the original cast recording was released in October. (The musical premiered two years ago at the Royal National Theatre, but no album was produced at that time.) The Light Princess a coming-of-age story of Althea, who, becoming weightless after her mother dies, must learn how to feel to find her gravity. It's an empowering musical about growing up, parents and children, and facing the world. It's my favorite thing she's done since 2007's American Doll Posse (an album that's fallen sharply in my estimation). It's a good, operetta-leaning musical (and while it lacks big, showstopping numbers, several of the tunes have wormed their way into my earholes), but it won't replace Into the Woods as my favorite musical or even Fun Home as my favorite new musical this year. 

6. HBO NOW
The HBO Now monthly service f i n a l l y came to the Roku player in October, and it was the best day ever. However, after catching up on Game of Thrones (so many deaths in the last episode! *spoiler*), I am not sure I love it. It's not quite as user-friendly as I would have hoped, and it has constant buffering problems. So I may not continue my subscription at this time, but I will def return when GoT does.

7. Debt
I finally paid off all my credit card debt this month! All I have left is a residual interest payment of 3 and some odd dollars. With my undergrad loans and credit cards paid off, all I have left is grad school--for the rest of my life. Now I can start saving for Paris! 

8. Adulting
Back in September, I got a flat tire on campus, and as I didn't have a car jack, my dad had to come rescue me. and he bought me a car jack! Well, less than a month later I had to use it as I got another flat. The lug nuts were rusted on pretty well which caused a lot of cursing, but, eventually, I changed my very first spare tire all by myself! and was only 30 minutes late to work. Continuing to adult only slightly more successfully than New Girl's Nick Miller. 

9. Books
All that Vamp Diaries and GoT interrupted my reading time which means that the only book I actually finished in October was the first trade issue of the new Ms. Marvel series--which is pretty good (and short). I got about 70 pages in The House of the Seven Gables before dropping it and only 18 pages in to The Witches of Eastwick before stopping. I am currently about 80 pages in Seven Ages of Paris and halfway through Night of Shadows. I have also made it halfway through Stéphane Heuet's graphic adaptation of Swann's Way which is more accessible than but does not come with the same bragging rights as the original. And in November I finished Nimona, a web-comic-turned-book that has been shortlisted for the National Book Award in the Young People's category. Nimona is a shape-shifter who teams up with moral villain Lord Blackheart in his fight against the nefarious Institute and spurious hero Sir Goldenloin where science mixes with magic and medieval and modern technologies coexist. I hope to finish more books this month.

10. Frightmares, Halloween and Hook
Gramantha had their last Lagoon day of the year during Frightmares where we only went to one haunted house because that enough for Kristen, thank you very much. and I think Sam was more scared of the swings and the Ferris wheel than the haunted attractions. For Halloween the rest of the crew went as Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back characters and I went as Hook from Once Upon a Time. It was a fun night even though I was ready for a nap by the time we got to our first party. 

Bonus: October Babies 
I seriously think that at least half of the people in my life were born in October. Seriously, what is going on in January? Oh, right, nothing. 

10 Things: September

Here are ten things I did this month. I'm hoping to make this a regular monthly post.  

1. Labor Day Party
For the past four or five years now, I've had friends over to my house to swim and barbecue while the rest of my family goes to Lava Hot Springs. It's great because I don't love camping, but I do love having the house to myself. I didn't actually barbecue this year instead making ratatouille, macaroni and cheese, and peach pie, and only a few people swam because it was frickin' cold! I also made my own orgeat syrup so we could make Mai Tais which were delicious. It was great to see a bunch of my friends, including Dain whom I rarely see since he lives in New Mexico now. 

2. Buffy Finale
Three Septembers ago, Kristen and I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and we finally watched "Chosen," the final episode! It took us a while to get through the series--mostly because Kristen kept moving (first to WA, then to CA). But I've always enjoyed our (somewhat regular) weekly Buffy nights. I don't what we're going to do now.

3. The Greek Festival
Kristen, Sam, and I went to the annual Greek Festival in SLC and had a good time. I ate way too much food. It was delicious--and heavy. Then we got frappes and toured the Orthodox church. And then we went to the mall to drink Starbucks and buy things at Barnes & Noble.

4. Scandal
I started watching the television show Scandal at the end of August or beginning of September, and I am now halfway through the fourth season. I am addicted! (I probably watched the entire second season during the Labor Day weekend.) Season three took some turns I didn't care for, but I am still watching it compulsively. 
In other TV news, I just watched the premier of Scream Queens which is gruesome and darkly funny. The Serial joke was so good. I will definitely keep watching for now.

5. Wicked
I have loved the musical Wicked since college when all my friends were obsessed with it. I've always been curious to read the Maguire novel, and so Sam lent me her copy (it's one of her favorite books), but I did not care for the book at all. It was a deeply frustrating reading experience from the character of Elphaba to the story itself. The creators of the musical made some excellent choices in their adaptation. 

6. Fall Reading List
I love to throw in some books with thrills and chills during the fall. For book club (meeting next month), we decided to read some ghost stories with The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and "All Souls' " by Edith Wharton. Currently I'm reading Hawthorne's gothic The House and the Seven Gables and the second book in Harkness's All Souls trilogy Shadow of Night. I also want to get to Updike's The Witches of Eastwick next month. Perhaps I shall share my thoughts on what I've read next time. 

7. Books Books Books
This month I went to two library book sales. The first at Davis County where I found nothing that I wanted. Sayud. Then next at the U, where I picked up five nice paperbacks: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon, a Norton Critical Edition of Gulliver's Travels and a Penguin Classics copy of The Custom of the Country (my favorite Wharton novel). I also picked up Janson's The History of Art (sixth ed.) for $2! I am pretty pleased with my selections. A couple weeks later, the U had its Employee Appreciation Day which always includes a FREE books table. The pickings were slim, but I grabbed two hardbacks in good condition: Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe and The Letters of Lytton Strachey. (My favorite book so far this year was Priya Parmar's historical novel Vanessa and Her Sister about the Bloomsbury Group, and Lytton Strachey was one of my favorite characters.) I also just liberated about sixteen books from the boxes in the shed from when I moved back to Utah four years ago, and it feels so good to be reunited. On the other hand, I have no shelf space for all these books.

8. Fall Hike
A couple of Sundays ago, I went hiking with Elise up Mueller Park Canyon which is a very easy, moderate hike. Only a few of the leaves had turned, but it felt properly autumnal nevertheless. After the hike, we enjoyed a bottle of Amontillado with some Manchego cheese, and it was delicious!

9. Honeymoon
I picked up Lana Del Rey's third album Honeymoon upon its release, and I have been enjoying it very much. The NYT writes "She’s been angry, and then bored of being angry, but now she’s just bored, and her boredom is entrancing." Opening with the line "We both know that it's not fashionable to love me" and closing with a cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," it's a languorous set of retro, cinematic soundscapes for Del Rey's art project persona of a world-weary femme fatale. "Truly there's nobody else for you but me," she sings, and nobody else is making this kind of pop music, and perhaps nobody else even could. It's the Full Lana and won't win any new converts, but it may be her most cohesive work yet (though the Paradise EP is still my favorite). In closing Billboard writes, "Under the cover of midnight, Del Rey has been exploring big ideas about eroticism, drugs, myth, the empty promise of YOLO, what it means to be a woman, and the American soul. But sure, keep writing her off as 'sad.'"
In other music news, I also picked up CHVRCHES new album Every Open Eye which is the kind of shiny, ear candy pop that Lana is NOT making, and it's great, but for some reason the disc won't read in my car's tetchy CD player, so I will keep listening to Honeymoon. 

10. Oktoberfest
Over the weekend, Sam, Kristen, Brandon, Vicki, Quinci, and I made our way to Snowbird for Oktoberfest. It was a day full of drinking beer (Wasatch's Pumpkin Ale may be my favorite pumpkin beer) and eating German food and it was wonderful. 

Bonus
11. Paris
I have decided to travel to Paris next year. I'm hoping Sam will come with me. Right now it's just the fun fantasy of planning a trip, and now I'm reading Alistair Horne's Seven Ages of Paris and brushing up on my French on Duolingo. 

Rambling 2013 Round Up

When my family went to write up our holiday/year end letter, I realized I didn't do anything "year-end-letter" worthy in 2013. Here's what I did do: I celebrated award shows with Elise and Bryce and sparkling beverages. Heidi named a cookie after me. I mourned Roger Ebert's death. I visited Seattle (Lillian! Kristen!) and Alaska (Tim!). I finally started watching Dr. Who and finished the first six seasons on Netflix. I took a class on The Modern and Postmodern through Coursera. I watched hours of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my beard fiancée, Kristen, until she left me and moved to California (I miss you!). I cooked up a storm of new recipes and went to the movies a lot. I applied for many jobs and didn't get very far. And then I lost almost 30 lbs before I gained 15 of it back.
 
And now for Top 10 Lists! I hope it's not any more boring than last year's. 
Let's start with music. My Top 5 Albums of the year were:  

Bankrupt! by Phoenix (stand-out song: "The Real Thing")
This album is as crisp and bubbly as seltzer and was my go-to album all summer long. 
Born to Die by Lana Del Rey ("National Anthem")
It was only this year (after "Summertime Sadness" became her first charting US single) that I became obsessed with this 2012 album and Lana's languid and sultry bad-girl songs. 
Heartthrob by Tegan and Sara ("How Come You Don't Want Me")
This is a delightful pop album about hookups and breakups (and, I'll admit, my first exposure to Tegan and Sara.)
Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend ("Diane Young")
Still thoroughly a Vampire Weekend album, it is a bit older and a bit darker and maybe their best one yet. Full of pop hooks, dense lyrics, and preppy East Coast imagery. 
Pure Heroine by Lorde ("Royals")
Combining excellently produced hooks with old-soul lyrics, it's both a great album about adolescence and a take-down of pop art's consumer culture.  

And here are 10 more Songs I loved this year (mostly 2013ish releases):
"Anything Could Happen" by Ellie Goulding
"Dancing On My Own" by Robyn
"Harlem" by New Politics
"Here's to Never Growing Up" by Avril Lavigne (I'm slightly embarrassed but I cannot deny my love for Avril.)
"Hot Knife" by Fiona Apple
"Lightning Bolt" by Jake Bugg
"Old Skin" by Ólafur Arnalds and Arnor Dan
"Picking Up the Pieces" by Paloma Faith
"San Francisco" by The Mowgli's
"Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey
Bonus Song: "I Love It" by Icona Pop was my summer jam in 2012, but it didn't start playing on the radio until this summer, and I loved it just as much this year as last. 

Films! This aren't necessarily the "best" pictures I saw, but they are my favorite movie theater experiences this year (includes some late 2012 releases I didn't see till early 2013). Also, I have not seen a lot of the recent year-end releases:

Anna Karenina directed by Joe Wright
Gorgeous and theatrical, it's a very Baz Luhrmanesque adapation. 
Argo directed by Ben Affleck
It may not have deserved its Best Picture statue, but it's a well-executed thriller done up in old Hollywood style. 
Before Midnight directed by Richard Linklater
The first two Before films were about meeting and remeeting. Midnight is about the baggage and bruises that comes from spending nearly a decade together. It's an excellent if difficult chapter in the relationship between Celine and Jesse.  
Blue Jasmine directed by Woody Allen
In Woody's take on A Streetcar Named Desire, we follow Blanchett's fearless performance as a woman constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. 
The Conjuring directed by James Wan
A well-done and terrifying flick. My friends and I screamed, laughed, gasped, and tightly grabbed each other's hands.
Frances Ha directed by Noah Baumbach
Greta Gerwig is goofily delightful as 27-year-old Frances who is fumbling through life after her best friend moves out. Proudly wearing its French New Wave influences, it may be Baumbach's warmest picture (which is not saying much). Awkwardly funny, exuberant, and uncomfortably close to home. 
Frozen directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Though only very loosely based on "The Snow Queen," it's a delightful Disney film about the relationship between two sisters (and the men who get in the way). 
Gravity directed by Alfonso Cuarón
A stunningly visual and heart-racing experience (esp. in IMAX 3-D). 
Much Ado About Nothing directed by Joss Whedon
Nothing more than a trifle that Whedon filmed at his house starring his friends, it is nonetheless a delightful trifle that acquits itself of Shakespeare rather well. 
Short Term 12 directed by Destin Daniel Cretton  
Brie Larson is quietly fantastic as a foster care supervisor battling demons of her own. It's authentically moving (even when the film's designated structure is obvious).

Here are my favorite ten books I read this year (only one of which was a 2013 release) including my Goodreads (friend me!) reviews: 

Animal Farm by George Orwell 
Betraying the promise of the Russian Revolution, Orwell’s fairy story of animals who overthrow their human masters only to submit to porcine tyranny vividly illustrates the potential consequences of our political actions. 
I read my first Orwell this year for book club: The Clergyman's Daughter. I didn't care for it. But my book club recommended I read this title, and I liked it quite a lot. One day I'll get around to 1984. 

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 
The Bundren family take turns narrating their harrowing odyssey to bury their formidable wife and mother, Addie, combining dark comedy with great pathos. 
I first read this in college, and I think it may be Faulkner's most accessible novel. And didn't James Franco direct a film adaptation of it this year..? 

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel 
In Fun Home, Bechdel's "compulsive propensity to autobiography" charts her identity as a lesbian, her fraught relationship with her father (including his possible suicide and homosexual inclinations), and the common ground they find in literature (including Remembrance of Things Past and Ulysses). This postmodern and (tragi)comic memoir is richly detailed, emotionally honest, and compulsively readable. 
I reread this graphic memoir for my Modern and Postmodern course and found it even better the second time. 

Glittering Images by Camille Paglia 
Reading Paglia is like talking to the smartest person at a party; her conversation refreshes, provokes, and sustains. Here Paglia teaches us to focus our eyes on over two dozen pieces of art from Ancient Egypt to Star Wars, providing a marvelous (if brief) art history education. Paglia's passion for and insight of art is astounding and makes this the only nonfiction book on my list. 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark 
Clarke, in her ambitious novel, has created an excessively detailed history of English magic set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. The host of characters includes the fussily reclusive and paranoid Mr Norrell, who returns practical magic to England; his foppishly brilliant and unruly pupil, Jonathan Strange, who pushes the boundaries of practical magic, to his eventual peril; a balmy and bloodthirsty fairy who places cruel enchantments on various persons; and the mysterious Raven King who casts a shadowy presence on the proceedings throughout. It is a joy to read such an engrossing novel replete with engaging characters and full of history and the fantastic. 
Lev Grossman calls it a must-read fantasy novel. I agree. 

The Magician King by Lev Grossman 
Bored as king of Fillory, Quentin longs for a heroic quest. Meanwhile, the wrathful Julia will stop at nothing to become a magician. Their joint adventures with both imperil and safeguard Fillory, and both will pay prices they could not imagine. 
This sequel of Grossman's adult take on Narnia and Harry Potter remains just as engrossing as The Magicians. 

Tenth of December by George Saunders 
In this satiric set of short stories, George Saunders cuts to the quick of life in these United States. From milquetoasts with delusions of grandeur to unlikely heroes, these tales (sometimes veering into sci-fi) examine home, free will, class society, love, and the life choices we all must make. These darkly subversive stories can be quite savage, nevertheless Saunders generously empathizes with his characters. 

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 
This modernist novel captures the minutiae of familial and daily life—its minor victories and setbacks, love and grief. Illuminating ordinary life with a matchstick, Woolf's vision expands the lyrical into a breathtaking narrative. 
Possibly Woolf's best (and my favorite), I reread this for my Modern and Postmodern class. (Earlier this year I also read Woolf's The Waves for the first time. It was . . . most unusual.) 

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket 
Snarky and drolly pessimistic, Lemony Snicket asks all the wrong questions in this children’s take on noir detective fiction in his search for a stolen item that wasn’t stolen at all. 
We read this for book club, forgetting that mysteries do not lend themselves particularly well to discussion. Nonetheless, while I never really cared for Unfortunate Events, I thought this book was rather delightful. 

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 
Things fall apart in this Caribbean Gothic when the Creole heiress Antoinette enters into an arranged marriage with Jane Eyre's prideful Mr. Rochester and loses her mind due to colonial sex and race relations eventually becoming the madwoman in the attic. 
While I did not initially care for this book club selection, Rhys's combined instinct for form and passion for the underdog creates an original and deeply troubling novel ripe for discussion. 

So that's it for now and for 2013. What did you think about the year and art? I don't have a TV list because I only watch old seasons on Neftlix anymore. Have a great 2014!

Summer Reading 2013

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Now that summer is more or less here, it's time for my summer reading list. Dr. P started a 16 books in 16 weeks summer reading challenge a few years ago. But because I hope to finish my list this year, I've limited myself to 12 books to finish by Labor Day. I've including a smattering of fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, and memoir. Without further ado, here is my list, alphabetical by title:

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
(After I already started, I learned that James Franco is directing a film adaptation. Should be . . . interesting.)

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Drinking with Men by Rosie Schaap

Glittering Images by Camille Paglia

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
(This Regency romance may be the closest thing on my list to a "beach read.")

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

On Being Different by Merle Miller

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

Wides Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
(book club book)

The World According to Garp by John Irving

After composing this list, I realized I forgot to include an Alaskan read as I will be going to Alaska in August! If I've made significant progress on my list, I may include any or all of the following:
30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (graphic novel)
The Cartography of Water by Mike Burwell (poetry)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (fiction)
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (nonfiction)

What will you be reading this summer?

Ash Wednesday

Mormons don't observe Carnival or Lent, and I have never given up anything for Lent before. But this year, I've decided to give up drinking and soda. This stems less from a religious/devotional place and more from a physical place as I'm trying to eat healthier and lose weight. I'm giving up all soda till Easter, but I will allow myself to have the occasional glass of wine on Sundays as allowed. Lent is also a time for self-reflection which I could use more of, especially when my life doesn't seem to be going anywhere. 

I did celebrate Mardi Gras in my own little way, making red beans and rice, macaroni & cheese with a Cajun twist, and a King Cake frosted in the Mardi Gras colors. I then went with Kristen to Bar X in downtown SLC for some final cocktails and then we went to Denny's. And nothing says Mardi Gras quite like Denny's.

Finally, here is a poem by the devotional poet George Herbert which I think is fitting for today.

Church Monuments

While that my soul repairs to her devotion, 
Here I entomb my flesh, that it betimes
May take acquaintance of this heap of dust,
To which the blast of Death's incessant motion,
Fed with the exhalation of our crimes,
Drives all at last. Therefore I gladly trust

My body to this school, that it may learn
To spell his elements, and find his birth
Written in dusty heraldry and lines;
Which dissolution sure doth best discern,
Comparing dust with dust, and earth with earth.
These laugh at jet and marble, put for signs,

To sever the good fellowship of dust,
And spoil the meeting—what shall point out them,
When they shall bow and kneel and fall down flat
To kiss those heaps which now they have in trust?
Dear flesh, while I do pray, learn here thy stem
And true descent, that, when thou shalt grow fat,

And wanton in thy cravings, thou mayst know
That flesh is but the glass which holds the dust
That measures all our time, which also shall
Be crumbled into dust. Mark here below
How tame these ashes are, how free from lust,
That thou mayst fit thyself against thy fall.

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